Italian-Thai
Development Plc (ITD), the contractor for the Dawei deep-sea port
project in Myanmar, said on Wednesday that the gradual withdrawal of its
Burmese partner in the US$ 50 billion project should not affect the
viability of the project, although it might set it back temporarily.

Italian-Thai
has been struggling to find financial backing for the
250-square-kilometre complex on Myanmar’s southern coast that is planned
to include a deep-sea port, steel mills, refineries, a petrochemical
complex and power plants. It is designed to provide a cheaper
transportation route for energy and other material to Southeast Asia.

Somchet
Thinaphong, the managing director of the Dawei Development Co. Ltd,
said a gradual withdrawal by the Myanmar strategic partner is unlikely
to affect the project’s long-term viability, according to an article on
Thursday in The Bangkok Post.

“The viability of such a
capital-intensive development project is largely dependent on fund
sourcing,” he said. “The local company, or even Ital-Thai, does not have
the financial capacity to fund such a massive development project. We
have to bank on others to provide us financial support.” The company has
been in talks with various governments and other groups in an effort to
line up financing.

However, the company said the withdrawal of the local partner raises "questions" about connections in Myanmar.

The
Burmese partner, the Max Myanmar Group, which owns 25 percent of Dawei
Development Co Ltd, said on Wednesday it had decided to pull out of the
huge development project. Ital-Thai said it will keep 51 per cent of the
that company.

Zaw Zaw, the owner of Max Myanmar, is one of Myanmar’s most influential businessmen who had close ties to the former
military regime and to the current government.

The project was
agreed to with the military government that ruled Myanmar until March
2011. The Myanmar energy minister said last month two other development
zone projects would proceed faster than the Dawei project.

In
May, Thailand approved a budget of 33.1 billion baht for infrastructure
in the west of the country that would provide links with the border area
by Dawei, saying many Thai firms want to set up in Dawei and the
government had to offer support for that investment.